A notorious conman who spent four years in a British jail has now been sentenced to six years in France for ramming his car into two policemen while trying to elude asking.
Robert Hfinishy-Freegard, 53, had shiftd to a country area of central France to breed beagles illegassociate disjoinal years ago under a deceptive name.
Neighbours had already been doubtful of him before two Netflix recordaries highairyed his activities as a conman.
Hfinishy-Freegard had posed as an MI5 secret agent to con women and students out of £1m, but he was freed after four years when some of his convictions were clearurned on pdirect.
Reconshort-terming himself at the court in Gueret, he shelp he had not been unfrifinishly but he was worried unwell.
“I had enough. I panicked,” he telderly the court, apologising to the two gfinisharmes he had driven into in the minuscule village of Vidaillat west of Clermont-Ferrand.
“I didn’t stop becaparticipate I’m a human being with emotions.”
Prosecutor Alexandra Pethieu shelp the country area was not a war zone: “And yet that day finished up with a besavageering scene worthy of Mad Max.”
One officer was knocked down and another was thrown agetst the car prosperdscreen for disjoinal metres.
Hfinishy-Freegard, who telderly the court his authentic name was David Hfinishy, was freed disjoinal years punctual on pdirect in the UK after his kidnapping accuses were quashed.
Witnesses at his 2005 trial in the UK had depictd how they had been subjected to years of pcleary becaparticipate of the power he had over them. Coercive or deal withling behaviour eventuassociate became a criminal offence in 2015 in England and Wales.
Hfinishy-Freegard was freed from prison in 2009, and shiftd to France in 2015 to begin a beagle dog breeding business with his partner Sandra Clifton.
However neighbours began to mistrust Clifton was under his deal with.
When an initial recordary came out in 2022, The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman, they reach outed her children who had participated the programme to pdirect for help in finding her.
Clifton’s son travelled to the village and the beagles were being deleted by a local charity when Hfinishy-Freegard reachd. As the two gfinisharmes asked the ex-conman asks he drove off, hitting the officers and escaping to Belgium.
He was tardyr extradited and has spent more than two years in custody before going on trial for running over the two officers.
Hfinishy-Freegard denied that his partner had been under his coercive deal with, alerting the court that his neighbours had a problem with him becaparticipate of the recordary.
However, Martine Laporte, the mayor of Vidaillat, shelp that what had ecombined from the trial was that “he is deceptive to the finish and that isn’t going to alter”.
“He reassociate has to be stopped becaparticipate if he gets out he’ll begin aget and that’s stressing,” she was quoted as saying by French media.
